Finnick's Little Girl
by AlexMichele
Summary: AU. Finnick didnt die during the rebellion and he and Annie have two children. Cali Odair will always be Finnick's little girl.
1. Baby

**Chapter one: Baby**

It's been two years since the rebellion ended. Two years with no Hunger Games and no worries. Except those of my two year old son and my pregnant wife. My son, Cile Odair, is every bit my child. His favorite thing to do is drive his mother more insane than she already is.

"Look mommy!" he says in his child like voice. Annie, being very pregnant, sighs with annoyance as she pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head. He toddles over to where Annie and I are lounging under an umbrella on the beach, holding a fish in his chubby hands. Being pregnant has given Annie an aversion to live fish lately, and Cile knows this.

"Don't put that on mommy. Throw it back." I tell him before he has the chance to touch her with it.

"Thank you," she says as soon as he's out of ear shot. She puts the sunglasses back on her face and closes her eyes. I see the hint of nausea on her face.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I ask concerned. Cile wanted to come out to the beach today and though I know she wasn't feeling well, Annie insisted that she would feel better if she got out of the house.

"As long as he keeps the fish in the ocean," she replies. I give her one of my looks that says I'm concerned, but she doesn't see it.

"I'll go keep him occupied then. We won't go far." I kiss her cheek and then move to kiss her large, round stomach. "Be nice little one," I say to her stomach. Annie thinks that it'll be another boy. I'm convinced it's a girl. I know she loves Cile just as much as she loves me, but I'm not sure how well she'd handle another son.

Hesitantly, I leave Annie's side and sneak up on my two year old who's sitting in the sand with his back toward us. When I get close enough, I see that he's burying the fish in the sand.

"Cile, I told you to throw the fish back in the water." I say.

"Dead." He announces with a toothy smile.

"Well now it is," I sigh as I pick him up and place him on my shoulders and then unbury the fish and throw it back anyways. I glance toward Annie and see that she's absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. She seems to be alright for now, so I wade out into the water up to my waist.

"Look daddy!" Cile says. I look to see he's pointing to a far off boat.

"Someone's gone fishing out there," I say as I lift him from my shoulders and dangle his feet in the water. I've been trying to teach him how to swim, but he's as stubborn as Annie was when I taught her to swim when we were kids. Stubbornness is one of the few things he inherited from her.

"No daddy!" Cile kicks and tries to get away from me.

"Son, if I let you down right here, the bottom is a long way." I tell him. "I'm not going to drop you." He continues to squirm until I turn him around in my arms so that he's facing me. With his arms locked around my neck, and his lets wrapped as far around my waist as they can reach, I start out further into the water. With each step, he holds on tighter.

"Are you afraid?" I ask him. He nods his head quickly. "There's nothing to be afraid of." Just as I say that, I hear Annie calling me, and the tone of voice she's using is one of panic. Nothing to be afraid of, except that. I turn quickly, accidentally splashing Cile in the face. By now, we're up to my chest in the water, and the fastest way back is to swim. I move Cile around to my back.

"Hold on really tightly," I tell him. "Close your eyes too." I know he hates being splashed in the face. To the best of my ability with a two year old on my back, I'm able to swim most of the way back in a timely manner. Without stopping to let him off, I continue my way over to Annie. One of her friends, Rose Saunders, is sitting with her. As I sink to my knees in the sand beside Annie, I feel Rose lift Cile off my back.

"What's wrong Annie?" I ask taking her hand. She says nothing as I watch her face contort in pain, and then feel it reflected in the grip she suddenly has on my hand. I look up at Rose who has wrapped Cile in his towel and is standing on the other side of Annie holding him.

"I think you should take her on to the hospital." Rose says. "I'll take care of Cile for you." I nod my head. Annie begins to whimper, and tears begin to fall down her face as I scoop her up into my arms. It's only difficult because her stomach doesn't allow her to bring her knees in very close anymore. She wraps her arms around my neck and buries her head in my shoulder.

"It's alright Annie," I tell her as I kiss the top of her head. The hospital is a five minute walk from our home in Victors Village. Victors Village is just on the other side of the road from the beach. Rose packs up our things and follows behind us.

When we were all younger, Rose was Annie's best friend. She was like all other girls, and had a crush on me. When Annie and I became friends, I wasn't very fond of Rose. It wasn't but a few weeks after Annie and I had been playing together that Annie straightened Rose out somehow. She became a lot less annoying as we grew older, and especially after Annie's Hunger Games. After the rebellion, she was there for Annie when I couldn't be. She was there when Cile was born, and though I never thought I'd consider her my friend, I really owed her.

"What's wrong?" I hear Cile ask.

"It's alright Cile, mommy's okay," I tell him.

The walk to the hospital is one of the longest walks of my life. When we passed by our house, Rose threw my towel over my other shoulder.

"You might want this. I'm going to take him on home." She says. "I'll bring him up in a few hours." She was right about needing the towel. When we were within sight of the hospital, I felt a warm liquid run down Annie's legs and my arm. Her water broke. My heart stops for a moment as I realize what this really means. In just a few hours, Annie and I will welcome the newest member of our family into this world.

~HG~HG~HG~

At ten thirty-eight, five hours after we arrived, the cry of a newborn life enters the room. Finally, it's over.

"You did it Annie," I whisper, stroking her hair. I kiss her cheek.

"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Odair. It's a girl!" the doctors announce as they take the baby and clean her and wrap her in a blanket. By the time they place her in Annie's arms, she's quieted down. The moment I lay eyes on my daughter, all the tears I had been fighting suddenly over power me. They allow Annie to hold her for a few minutes before they ask that I take the baby so they can get Annie transferred into another room.

Carefully, she's placed in my arms, and it's all I can do to hold onto her. My heart aches because I missed this with Cile, but most of my heart is exploding with the amount of love I have for my wife and my little girl.

"I'm going to see if Rose and Cile are here," I find myself saying. I follow the doctors and Annie to her new room so I know where to find them, and then I continue to make my way to the waiting room. I don't know if they're going to be here or not. Cile's bedtime is around eight and he's usually long asleep by this hour. I find that he is in fact asleep, in the floor of all places, in front of the chair where Rose is sitting.

"He tried to stay awake." She says when she sees me smirk at the sight of my son sprawled out in the floor. "Do you want me to wake him?"

"Not yet," I say. I sit down in the chair beside her. "It's a girl," I say, looking at the tiny face in my arms.

"You must be so proud. I bet you Annie's secretly relieved that you and Cile are still the only two boys she'll have to take care of." Rose smiles at me. "How is she? Better than she was with Cile I hope."

"She's alright. It took a lot out of her, but she's alright."

"I wish I could have said that for her last time. She fought the doctors when she found they wanted to put her out and take him, but we finally calmed her down enough so they didn't have to do that." I nod my head only half listening to her.

"Will you wake him up now? He'll want to see at least me before he'll need to go home. Thank you, by the way." I say.

"You're welcome. Are you going to stay overnight?" she asks, as she bends down and picks Cile up out of the floor.

"Probably. I don't think he'll be able to come back and see Annie tonight though since it's so late." Slowly, the two sleepy green eyes belonging to my son are open and focused on me.

"Hey buddy," I say to him.

"Daddy," he tries to climb in my lap and gets mad when Rose won't let him.

"Look," I say to him as I move the baby where he can see her. "This is your sister. You can't climb in my lap. You're alright where you're at."

"Sister?" he asks sleepily.

"Have you picked out names yet?" Rose asks.

"Cali Rose." I say proudly. "If she had been a boy, we were going to name him Aiden Samuel."

"Can you say Cali?" Rose asks Cile. He tries, but pronounces it more like "cawy" Cali stirs in my arms.

"I probably better take her back to Annie now," I say. I lean over and kiss Cile's head. "You be good for Miss Rose alright?" I tell him. "You can see mommy tomorrow. Goodnight son. I love you."

"Night daddy. Love you." He says, and then yawns.

"Thank you again," I tell Rose.

"You're welcome. We'll see you in the morning." She and Cile disappear down one hallway, as I make my way back to Annie's room.


	2. Siblings

**Chapter two: Siblings**

At the age of three and five, my two children are more of a handful than Annie and I predicted they would be. Cile wants to do everything that I do. He wants to live and breathe in the same bubble of space as I do. Sometimes it's annoying because he has no sense of personal space, but I don't usually mind it because at least it keeps him somewhat out of trouble. My daughter is everything I wanted her to be. Just like Annie.

"Daddy!" she calls as Cile and I come back from fishing one afternoon. Annie's sitting in the small garden in our front yard picking out weeds and planting new flowers. Cali has a bright blue daisy in her hand as she runs toward me.

"Hey princess," I say as she runs right into my arms.

"Look. I found this flower. It's pretty." she says as she holds it up with a smile just as bright as the flower color.

"It is very pretty," I take it from her and tuck it behind her ear. "Just like you." I kiss her cheek as I swing her around to my hip and carry her to the front porch. I set her and the bag of fish I'm carrying down on the porch.

"Run on inside," I say to her and Cile as I make my way toward Annie. I lean down and kiss my wife. "Cile caught more fish than I did today." I tell her. I know my children are still standing on the front porch.

"That's surprising," Annie smiles. "He must be very proud."

"Like you wouldn't believe," I whisper to her. "He's pretending like it's not a big deal."

"Look Cali, fish!" Cali screams. She's never liked the feel of raw fish. I sigh.

"Cile, let your sister alone," I turn to make my way to the porch to them and watch as she attempts to run down the stairs away from her brother and the fish, and misses a step. Before I can catch her, she's fallen down the stairs and I hear a soft snap. That can't be good. Annie quickly comes running to the screams of our little girl as I scoop her into my arms.

After taking her to the hospital, we're informed that when she fell down the stairs, she landed on her arm wrong, and the snap I heard was the sound of her arm breaking. Annie doesn't take this news lightly. I immediately see her retreat into her mind; into her Hunger Games. Even though it's been five years since the end of the rebellion, and ten years since her Games, Annie's mind is still broken.

While Cile usually finds every way possible to mess with his mother, he has the same charm I have. I do what I can to talk Annie back into the present while we're waiting on the doctors to put a cast on Cali's arm, but she doesn't fully recover. Things that remind her the most of her District partner's beheading, pushes her the furthest into her mind, and take the most time to pull her back into the present. When the doctors bring Cali out to us, her arm is in a pink cast and she's laughing happily at the doctor.

"Look daddy!" she says, showing me her arm.

"It's pink." I tell her as she's transferred from one set of arms to another. She giggles.

"Is your wife alright?" the doctor asks. When I got up to take my daughter from him, Cile climbed up into Annie's lap. She's recovered enough to wrap her arms around him, and he kisses her cheek.

"I'm sorry mommy. I didn't mean to hurt Cali. It was an accident." I hear him say.

"She'll be alright," I tell the doctor, a smile playing on my lips.

"Put me down," Cali demands. I set her on her feet and she too makes her way to Annie. "Look mommy." She says. I follow and sit down in the chair beside Annie.

When Annie doesn't respond to Cali, the little girl grows impatient and starts hitting Annie's leg. I pick her up and set her in my lap. It's difficult explaining to a young child that their mother can't pay them attention.

"Cile, I think you need to apologize to your sister too." I tell him. He climbs out of Annie's lap and stands in front of me and Cali. He takes the hand of her good arm in his.

"I'm sorry Cali. I just wanted you to see the fish I caught today. I didn't mean to hurt you." He says. He leans forward and kisses her cheek too. She scrunches up her nose at this, but smiles as she shows him her cast. The fact that she's cheerful about it seems to upset him further than he already was.

"She's alright Cy." I ruffle his hair. "Why don't you take mommy's hand and let's go home."

Slowly, between Cile and I, by the time we get home, we manage to pull Annie mostly out of her own head. She sits down in the rocking chair with Cali as I take Cile to the kitchen to teach him how to clean the fish we caught and prepare it to be cooked for dinner.

~HG~HG~HG~

Both of my kids prefer it when I'm the one who tucks them in at night. They don't mind if Annie's there with me, sometimes they like that the best, but tonight, Cile has Annie wrapped around his finger just as much as Cali has me around hers. It makes me sad that my five year old has learned that sometimes his mommy isn't herself, and she needs the extra attention before she'll be back to herself. He knows that when she's had a really bad episode, like she did today, that she loves it and recovers faster when he spends time with her.

"Mommy, will you tuck me into bed tonight?" he asks, as the four of us make our way up the stairs for bed.

"You don't want daddy to?" she asks.

"No. I want you." He hugs her leg. She doesn't argue with him.

"Goodnight son," I say as he and Annie disappear into his room. I hear him tell me goodnight before she shuts his door.

"Alright princess, climb up into your bed." I follow Cali into her room. She struggles with having use of only one arm.

"Help me?" she asks, her lower lip sticking out in a pout because she can't do it herself. I put her in her bed and move to her dresser to find her nightgown and a hair tie to put her hair up with. Her favorite color is the same bright blue as the daisy she found earlier, so I pull out the blue nightgown over the pale yellow one that I bought her. She struggles to take her dress off, so I have to help her change clothes as well. Now that she's found that the pink cast on her arm puts a hindrance on being able to do things herself, she isn't as fond of it as she was when they put it on her at the hospital.

"I don't like you," she says to her arm as I pull the covers over her legs and move to brush her hair into a pony tail. I chuckle at this. "It's not funny daddy." She insists.

"I'm sorry sweetie." The fact that she broke her arm isn't funny, but her irritation with it is adorable.

"Can I take this off?" she asks.

"No, I'm afraid not. You have to keep it on until the doctors say you can take it off. It'll help your arm get better. If you take it off your arm will hurt again." I explain. She isn't happy with this answer, but she knows that it's the only option. When her hair has been put up to stay out of her face for the night, she lays down and cuddles up with her teddy bear. I wrap the blankets snugly around her shoulders and kiss her cheek.

"I love you my sweet baby girl," I tell her.

"I love you too daddy. I want a kiss from mommy too."

"Alright, I'll tell her to come in here. Goodnight." I flip on her nightlight as I flip off the overhead light, and I crack the door once I get into the hallway. Annie is already standing in the hallway waiting on me.

"She wants a kiss from you," I tell my wife. "Are you alright?" I ask, taking her shoulders as she goes to pass me. She sighs.

"I will be." She wraps her arms around me for a moment before Cali calls out that mommy is taking too long.


	3. The Hunger Games

**Chapter three: Hunger Games**

Annie and I are sitting in the living room enjoying the peace and quietness of the house while our children are in school. Yesterday, Cile who's twelve now, told us they're learning about the Hunger Games in school.

"We probably should tell them first." I say, thinking over the reactions that we had when we were told. We both knew that the Games were being taught in history classes, because they were a large part of the past of our country, but we figured we had a few more years before we'd have to sit down and explain to our kids why sometimes Annie checks out of reality, or why there are twelve houses in the Village here and we're the only family that lives here. Victors Village was renamed after the rebellion to The District Estates so that there wasn't the constant reminder of what used to be.

Since the only living Hunger Games Victors were few in number, the Districts whose Victors didn't survive the rebellion, had their Victors Village's demolished. The only District that has more than one house in use in their Victors Village is District 12.

At a younger age, the children had asked why we had no neighbors. We explained to them then that the houses around us were for decoration and tourists from the Capitol. It's mostly true. While I finally was forever relieved of my services to other women in the Capitol, it didn't mean that some of them didn't come visit me.

"I don't know if I can handle telling them what happened to us." Annie says after a few minutes of silence.

"Try? Please? It'll be easier. I'll be right here, and you know you're safe and I won't let anything happen to you or them." I tell her as I wrap my arms around her in a hug.

"I know, but none of us can control when it happens." The 70th Hunger Games were almost thirty years ago, and the rebellion was twelve years ago. While Annie has gotten better over the years, even now she still has her moments.

"It'll be alright," I kiss her.

At dinner that night, Cali tells us about some of the friends she's made at school and how this weekend, one of the girls is having a slumber party that she really wants to go to. Being ten years old, Cali has become a mini Annie. The only difference in looks is Cali inherited my eyes, and my face, while Cile inherited Annie's. Almost everything about my daughter reminds me of the days when Annie and I were the same age as our children, just a few years before either of us were reaped.

While Cali is telling us about her day, Cile is quietly eating his dinner, not interrupting his sister. He looks sad almost. Something is clearly bothering him. When Cali is done talking, I turn my attention to him.

"You alright son? You've been quiet tonight," I say.

"Just thinking."

"What are you thinking about?" I have a feeling that he's thinking about the Hunger Games.

"History class," he confirms my suspicions.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"They say that the Hunger Games were Games that children, ages twelve though eighteen, were forced to participate in. They said that some of our parents participated in it." He looks at Annie and me. Annie sighs.

"Both of you finish your dinner and then we'll go in the family room and talk about it." I tell them. Dinner is finished silently.

Even at the age of ten, when she's sad or upset Cali's favorite place to be is curled up in my lap. As soon as I sit down, she's climbing up and hugging me. I hug her back tightly and kiss the top of her head. Annie sits down beside me and I move my arm so that I can take her hand in mine.

"Why don't you start by telling us everything they've told you in school?" I suggest.

"They said that over ninety years ago, Panem was made up of 13 Districts who didn't seem to appreciate the Capitol, so they started a war and tried to over throw the government. The Capitol proved to be stronger than the Districts, and as punishment, District 13 was destroyed while the other 12 were forced to send children to the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games were games where they put the kids in an arena and they had to kill each other until there was only one kid left, but the Victor received special privileges for themselves and their District. District 4 was a career District, so they trained their kids to fight in the Games. They said that it lasted for seventy five years before two sixteen year old District 12 kids were chosen for the 74th and 75th Games, and a second rebellion happened. That was twelve years ago. They said that for some of us, our parents participated in the games or the war effort, but all of them were alive during that time, and all of us would have been babies. Mommy, please don't cry," he interrupts his telling. I rub the back of Annie's hand with my thumb and look over at her. I didn't realize she'd started crying.

"I can't do this Fin," she says, pulling her knees up to her chest and tucking her head between them.

"Yes you can Annie. I know you can. You're stronger than they give you credit for. Look at me, look at us, we've made it this far." I move Cali to the other side of me and put my arms around Annie. I lean in to whisper in her ear the things that used to calm her. Finally, I turn my attention back to the four green eyes that are watching us.

"Was there anything else that they told you?" I watch as he looks at his sister for a moment, and then back and Annie and me. He shakes his head. Nothing else that he wants Cali to hear. "How about you ask questions first, and we'll fill you in as you go." He looks back at Cali again and hesitates.

"She'll need to know this stuff too Cy, don't worry about her."

"Was it really as bad as they make it sound?" he asks.

"It depends on who you ask, but yes."

"I don't think they need to know everything." Annie says. "The Capitol wasn't very nice." She gives me one of her looks.

"I wasn't going to mention that." She's right. There are still some things that they're still too young to know. Things that the school won't tell them.

"Did you guys ever have to participate in the Hunger Games? Did you have friends who did?" Cile asks.  
"Yes, and yes." I respond. I watch Cile's eyes go big for a moment. "I had friends who were reaped when I was twelve and thirteen. They came back to District 4 in brown wooden boxes. I was fourteen when they chose me."

"But you're so nice daddy. You wouldn't hurt anyone. Did you really have to kill other kids?" Cali asks, moving into the floor in front of me since she can't occupy my lap. I give her a small smile.

"I had to. If I didn't kill them, they'd have killed me."

"What about you mom?" Cile asks.

"I knew a few of the kids who were reaped before me, but the only one that it hurt to lose, came back to me." She looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

"I'm right here," I tell her. She nods her head and goes on.

"I was reaped when I was sixteen. I only killed three people. Two with the help of my twelve year old District partner, and the other because she killed him." Annie breaks down into full out sobs. I hug her tightly.

"What's it like? Killing people and watching people be killed?" Cile asks.

"It's like you're not even human anymore when you have to kill someone," I hesitantly look at Annie, "Watching someone you care about die, changes the whole rest of your life. You're never the same again. Even thirty and thirty-five years later, there are still nightmares, there are still moments when things remind us of what we went through, and it's hard, because you're never the same."

"Is that why people call you weird?" Cile's looking at Annie, but she's back in her games again.

"It's the reason for a lot of things son." I kiss the top of Annie's head as she continues to sob.

"How did she win?" he asks, knowing that his mother won't be able to answer him.

"By luck, chance, and because there wasn't a single thing I didn't do to get the Gamemakers to let her alone in the arena. You name it, I did it. There was an unexpected earthquake in the arena, and a dam broke and flooded the place. Being from District 4, she was the only tribute who could swim."

"What about the war?"

"The relationship your mother and I have started out very difficultly. In the world we grew up in, because of the things that I had to do for the Capitol, getting married wasn't ever an option. The 75th Hunger Games was what they called a Quarter Quell. Every twenty five years, they'd pull a card and that card was the Hunger Games event for that year. I was in the 65th Hunger Games, and your mother in the 70th. Being Victors, neither of us could be reaped again, and we were essentially safe from the Hunger Games except when I was called back to mentor two children. The card for the 75th Games read that only former Hunger Games tributes would be reaped. So every District had to sacrifice two of their Victors. People who had already won the Games before.

Both of us were reaped, but there was another woman who took your mothers place. Her name was Mags. She was eighty years old. She loved me and your mother like we were her grandchildren, and in return she was our grandmother. We all took care of one another. I wish you two could have met her. She'd love you, and you'd love her." I sigh as I remember my mentor, my grandmother, my District partner. Though things are different now, because of the memories I have, I still hate the Capitol for what they did.

"Did she die?" Cali asks. "Did someone kill her?"

"There were six Victors that year because of the rebellion. The rebel team rescued three of us from the arena and set the rebellion into motion. Mags luckily wasn't killed by a person. She was killed by part of the arena that the Gamemakers had set up. We found out that District 13 had been destroyed on the ground, but underground, they'd rebuilt and lived in secret for seventy five years. The other three who didn't get rescued by the rebels were retrieved by the Capitol, and they were taken and tortured. They also took the Victors who remained in the Districts to the Capitol," I pause to make a gesture toward Annie, "and anyone else they suspected of knowing about the rebellion, and tortured them as well. I look down at my daughter and see that she too is crying.

"But you didn't die." She says, reaching up and touching Annie's leg. Annie manages to smile at her. Cali moves from the floor to curl up on the other side of Annie, and I move my arms so that Annie can comfort her daughter.

"I was rescued. Along with two of the other Victors who were taken from the arena." Annie chokes out.

"We found that we were safe in District 13, and I didn't have to take orders from the Capitol anymore, so we were able to get married and be together."

"Why would the Capitol do all those terrible things? Weren't they trying to protect the people?" Cile asks. I see the anger on his face.

"That's what they wanted people to believe. That's what most people did believe. But few of us actually knew what their secret motives were. They enjoyed watching us suffer."

"What happened after you got married?" Cile asks, wanting to hear more.

"They set up teams of people that they trained to fight in the war. I was one of their main soldiers because I'm a Victor. When they finally let us out, finally let us go to the Capitol to fight, we'd only been married for two months. My squad left with thirteen soldiers. Of the thirteen, by the end of the rebellion, only six of us were still living, and of the six of us, we were all in critical condition and we all almost died." I roll the pant leg of my right leg up to show them a scar.

"You both asked about this when you were younger. I told you that I got cut from a sharp stick in the ocean because at the time, neither of you were old enough for this conversation. The Capitol was famous for their mutts. They took ordinary animals, and made them into killing monsters. Most of my squad was killed by these mutts. They were lizards with very sharp, very deadly claws. If they managed to catch you, they took your head straight off your body. I was climbing up the ladder to escape them, and they caught me. As they sunk their claw into my leg, one of the squad members pulled me up off the ladder and then threw a bomb at them. I almost lost this leg. I had to learn how to walk on it again because of the damage that the claws did to the inside of it." Cile shakes his head.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like," he says sadly.

"Terrible. When I finally was reunited with your mother, I found that if I had died, you would have grown up just you and your mom, and you princess, wouldn't exist."

"So, I was born while you were gone to fight the war in the Capitol?" he asks.

"I didn't know that she was pregnant until after you were born. It's a lot to think about son. To imagine how much different your life would be if you didn't have me or Cal." He nods his head. I see he's trying to imagine life with just Annie, but he comes up short.

"I can't believe that it actually happened to you guys. It explains a lot of the things that I've always grown up just accepting and not questioning about you." He says, looking more at Annie than me. He looks as though he wants to get up and hug Annie, but Cali's still attached to her.

"I'm sorry that you had to hear about the Games from the school before we told you. We just wanted to wait until both of you were old enough to hear about what happened to us." I say. I stand up and stretch for a moment before extending my hand to my son. He takes it, and I pull him up into a hug. He's quiet for a moment, and he doesn't pull away as quickly as he normally would.

"I love you dad." He says where only I can hear him.

"I love you too Cile."

"Daddy, are you glad the Hunger Games are over?" Cali asks.

"More than anyone will ever know. The extinction of the Hunger Games means that I get to live a happy life with the three of you. It means that your mother is my one and only. It means that I don't have to face either of you being thrown into the arena. Trust me, if the Games still existed, both of you would be reaped at one point or another just because of the status I held in the Capitol. They didn't like me very much, and I didn't like them very much either. I didn't like how they held people like your mother over my head. If they wanted me to do something, I had to do it or they'd kill her."

"What about our grandparents?" Cali asks. She's always wanted a grandmother to spoil her like her friends grandmothers spoil them.

"My dad died from a heart attack I believe. My mom died from an oil tank fire."

"My parents both died trying to protect me. They took my dad away after the 75th Hunger Games reaping and he never returned. They killed my mother in front of me as they took me away to be held captive in the Capitol." Annie sniffles.  
"I couldn't imagine watching you die," Cile says.

"Come here Cal," I say to my daughter. She gets up and I wrap her in my arms. Cile sits down in her former place.

"I love you mommy," he says. He stopped calling her mommy when he was nine. He's called her mom for the last few years. Just the name starts Annie crying again as she pulls him into her arms.

"I love you too my little boy," I see on his face that he doesn't like being called that, but he's not going to say anything right now.

"In a few more years, I have videos of our Games. When you're older, if you want to, you can watch them." I say.

"You have the videos?" Annie asks.

"Hidden. Not even you could find them. I hid them from you anyways. I know you wouldn't want to keep them. I got them from Paylor." Annie's not happy about this, and I know I'll probably hear about it later, but for tonight at least, she'll let it go. Cali yawns.

"Bed time princess?" I ask her. She wraps her arms around me tighter.

"I don't want to."

"Come on, I'll tuck you in." she sighs, and then let's go of me and moves to hug and kiss her mother.

"I love you mommy."

"I love you baby girl." I follow my daughter up the stairs to her room. When she's tucked into her bed, she asks me yet another question.

"Is the Capitol better now? They're not going to hurt us because they want you to do something are they?"

"No. I won't let them use me like they used me before, and I won't let them touch you. But the president, she's a Hunger Games Victor too. She knows what it was like, and she knows what they did. She changed Panem for the better. You're perfectly safe sweetheart. Don't worry about it. What you heard tonight are things that happened to us before you and Cy were even thought about. Things are better now. Get some sleep. I love you princess."

"I love you too daddy."


	4. Teenage Years

**Chapter four: Teenage Years**

I get up at six o clock am with my kids and ready myself for the day as they're getting ready for school. From my bedroom, I can hear their usual morning arguments.

"Cali, you're taking too long in the bathroom, get out of there!" Cile yells at his thirteen year old little sister.

"Wait a minute!" she yells back, irritated. Later, the arguments change to a new topic.

"Come on Cali! You're going to make us late for school" I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in my hand, trying to shove a piece of toast in my son's hand as he's walking away from me toward the door.

"It takes time to be a girl!" Cali says as she enters the kitchen. Cile scoffs as I chuckle. She accepts the toast easier than Cy did.

"Have a good day at school," I tell them as I kiss my daughter on the cheek and watch them head out for the day.

~HG~HG~HG~

I've returned from my morning fishing and just as I deposit the fish on the kitchen counter and kiss my wife, the phone rings. Since Annie is close enough, she's the one who answers it. I watch her for a moment as her eyes get big.

"Go pick up the other phone," she says urgently. I run upstairs to the phone in our room and pick it up.

"I got it Annie,"

"Good, Mr. Odair, this is Principal Gill. I have your son here in the office with me right now. He and another student have been involved a fist fight. Both boys are going to receive a week's worth of suspension. We ask that you come get Cile at the first available moment that you have"

"I'll be there in ten minutes sir." I respond. I hear Annie hang up the phone that she was listing to. "Can I go ahead and pick up my daughter while I'm there?" I ask

"Yes sir," Principal Gill responds. "We'll see you soon," he too hangs up the phone. Downstairs I find Annie crying on the couch.

"I'll straighten him out on the way home. Don't you worry."

"What if he's hurt Fin?" she asks. She's never dealt with the idea of either of our children in pain very well.

"I'm sure that they would have mentioned it if he was. He'll be alright. Do you want to go with me? I'm gonna bring Cal home too." she shakes her head. "I'll be back then. It's alright love." I hug her tightly and kiss the top of her head before leaving.

When I get to the school to pick up my kids, I find both of them outside the school building being watched by the assistant principal. Cile has his hands in his pockets and is kicking around at the rocks, stirring up the dirt. He doesn't look harmed. He looks angry. Cali is sitting calmly beside the assistant principal on the bench waiting. She looks worried.

"I'm just going to leave them with you then," the assistant principal stands up upon seeing me.

"Thank you," I say. Cali comes directly to me and hugs me. "Hey princess," I say hugging her back.

"Come on, walk and tell me what happened." I say to my son as I tuck my daughter under my arm and turn and start walking home. We walk slow enough to let Cile catch up. He's silent for a few minutes before he finally speaks, and he speaks to his sister, and not to me.

"I don't like that boy you've been hanging around." He says.

"Damien?" she asks.

"Yeah. Him. If you know what's good for you and for him, you'll stop hanging around him." He says darkly.

"Do not threaten your sister." I say.

"I took the first punch dad."

"You punched him?"

"Yeah Cal. I did. Do you want to know why?" He's still seething with anger. "I was walking to class, minding my own business and he and his little group of friends got in my way. He started saying things about mom and her mental condition. He started saying things about you. What he wanted to do to you." Cile's knuckles look white as he's still attempting to control his anger. "No one talks about my family like that. Cali, if you keep staying around him, if he hurts you, I'll do more than beat him up."

No one says anything more until we're almost home.

"Princess, go on up to your room and start on your homework. Cile, I'm going to get your mother and we need to talk." Cile makes no move to enter the house behind Cali and me. Annie's still sitting on the couch where I left her.

"He's alright Annie," she looks up and watches Cali head up the stairs.

"Where is he?" she asks.

"Outside." She follows me out, and upon seeing her son, she rushes over to him and envelops him in a hug that he willingly returns as he lets his mother sob in his arms. After a few moments of nothing but Annie's tears, he finally speaks up.

"I'm alright mom. I'm not hurt at all. As for the other kid, I can't say the same."

"I want to know what he said. It's not like you to be provoked by words. Tell your mother what you told us on the way home." I point to the chairs on the end of the porch indicating that I want him to come up and have a seat. He sits on the porch swing as I get Annie to sit beside me on the bench across from him.

"I told dad and Cal that I was walking to class, and the guy who Cal's been spending a lot of time with lately, and his group of friends got in my way. He started out saying things about you mom. Saying things like dad only married you because you're beautiful and that he never actually loved you. He said that I should be ashamed to have a mother who the whole District knows is mentally unstable. He doesn't get why the Capitol didn't just kill you already, because mentally insane people are a disgrace to this world. Then he moved on to talking about Cali and the things that he wants to do to her. He just hasn't been able to get her fully alone yet or he said he'd have already tried a few things. That's when I punched him. No one talks about my family like that. I'm serious dad. Talk to Cal about him. If he touches her or if he hurts her, I will kill him."

Annie had been sitting beside me, crying quietly to herself as Cile repeated what Damien had said that caused the fight, but at his last words, Annie goes off the deep end.

"Stay." I order Cile as I rush Annie inside before her screaming attracts a flock of people. Of course Cile doesn't stay outside. He follows us in the house in shock. Annie has been a lot better since we had our children. She hasn't had a full on attack like this since the night I left her to fight in the Capitol war, fifteen years ago.

"What did I say wrong?" Cile asks. I hear the fear in his voice, and just as I look up at him, I notice Annie's identical face pop her head around the corner. I see she too is upset about why her mother is screaming hysterically.

"You said you'd kill him." I answer. Mention of killing another human has always set Annie off onto one of her episodes. Never quite this bad, but always quite a fit. The mistake registers across his face, and then it turns to sorrow as he sits down on the other side of Annie.

"Mom, I'm sorry." He says as he begins to rub her back. Slowly, Annie detaches herself from me as Cile attempts to calm her down. She moves from my arms into his, and instead of me whispering to her, reminding her that it isn't real, he's comforting her, reminding her that it's okay and between me and him, nothing is going to hurt her or Cali.

Cali is still standing in the doorway, tears having finally made their way down her face. I lean over and kiss Annie's cheek before putting a hand on my sons shoulder for a moment and then crossing the room to my daughter. I hug her and hold her tight for a few minutes.

"Come on," I say to her as I take her back upstairs. "How much of what did you hear?" I ask when we get to her room.

"I couldn't hear anything with you guys outside." She sits down on her bed and wipes at her tears. I sit down at her desk.

"Tell me about this Damien kid." I say.

"Damien's Cy's age. He's funny, he's popular, I think he's nice, and he's friendly. I like spending time with him and his friends. He's never hurt me or acted like he wanted to. He's never touched me, not counting hugs. I don't know what he could have said about me or mom to make Cy so mad. I've never heard Damien talk badly about anyone." she explains.

"Cy's not one to be so easily provoked though,"  
"I can provoke him pretty easily," she jokes.

"He doesn't ever get as mad as he looked today and you know it," I counter.

"Yeah, but it just doesn't make sense. Damien doesn't seem like he'd do something like that, but Cile wouldn't lie about something so serious either." I hear the confusion and confliction in her voice.

"Do you like him Cal?" I ask after a thoughtful moment of silence. "As more than a friend I mean," I clarify.

"I don't know. I've never thought of liking him more than a friend." She says thoughtfully.

"I'm going to go talk to Damien's parents and Damien himself tomorrow. Just be careful alright? Cy won't be able to forgive himself if something happens to you, and you're my baby girl. I don't want you to get hurt either. I want you to know that you can talk to me. Don't be afraid to tell me anything. You can talk to your mom too, but I know that she's not always in the right mind frame. I love you princess. Don't forget that either." I tell her as I stand up.  
"I'm going to go check on your mother. She's pretty upset. Finish your homework and I'll call you down for dinner later." I cross the room and kiss my daughters forehead and then leave her room. Just as I'm about to close the door I hear her say:

"I love you daddy,"

* * *

**Authors Note: **Hey guys! It's been a while since ive updated any of my stories anywhere i know. Im sorry. I just moved in to college and ive been doing Orientation stuff and classes actually start in a few days. So, im pretty busy and will continue to be busy until i fully adjust to college life.  
I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had a hard time writing it. I want this story to focus most on Finnick/Cali and i really felt like it focused more on Finnick/Cile.  
i did write it from Cali's POV but after some help from my lovely Hillary_Izzy_Blair, i decided to keep it all Fin's POV.  
Leave a review if you'd like! I'd appreciate it. :)


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